Mobeus holds £166m final close for maiden LP-backed fund

The development follows a series of rolling closes for the vehicle, which held its first close on £51m in June 2016 and another £140m close in May 2017.

According to a statement issued by the GP, the vehicle is 20% invested across four investments. Including its VCT investments, the firm has deployed around £60m over the last 12 months.

Mobeus – which has historically focused on the management of VCT funds – launched the new vehicle early in 2016. The move came shortly after UK regulatory changes were introduced limiting the types of deals permissible to VCT funds. In particular, the regulations mean VCT funds can no longer take ownership stakes, are limited to investing a maximum of £12m per asset – £20m where the business is judged to be "knowledge-intensive" – and can only invest in companies under a certain age.

The GP is not the only VCT manager to have diversified into institutional fundraising: in May, YFM Equity Partners held a final close for its maiden closed-ended buyout fund, YFM Equity Partners 2016, on £45m, surpassing its target by 50%.

Mobeus mandated Asante Capital Partners as placement agent for the fundraising process. In May, the GP's managing partner Mark Wignall told unquote" the adviser's involvement was crucial – particularly in terms of raising commitments from international LPs – as Mobeus itself had not previously been through the process of raising institutionally backed funds. "We did a lot of travelling over the 12-month period and ended up receiving commitments from three US investors," he said. "I just don't believe we could have done that without a placement agent."

Wignall also confirmed at the time that the vehicle has a 10-year lifespan, with a five-year investment period and five-year divestment period. He also confirmed the fund has a vanilla fee structure with a 2% management fee and 20% carry.

Macfarlanes provided legal advice to Mobeus on the fundraising, while Langham Hall acted as fund administrator.

Investors
The vehicle has raised commitments from 12 LPs including private and public pension funds, asset managers, family offices and foundations. Around two thirds of commitments came from European investors, while the remainder came from the US.

According to publicly available documents, the GP has received backing from Bank of Ireland Staff Pensions Fund, Cummins UK Pension Plan Trustee, Derbyshire County Council Pension Fund, East Riding Pension Fund, the Kresge Foundation, the Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, Colorado Health Foundation, Balfour Beatty Pension Fund and the US Bank Pension Plan.

Investments
Mobeus Equity Partners IV has a generalist remit and will make investments of £5-15m in management buyouts.

To date the vehicle has invested in product design company Kinneir Dufort, invoice financing company Factor 21, asset management business Ludlow Wealth Management Group and bakeware coating business Arc Specialist Engineering. The GP is currently in the process of conducting due diligence on a fifth deal, according to the aforementioned statement.

The GP will continue to make growth capital investments from its existing pool of VCTs.

People
Mobeus Equity Partners – Mark Wignall (managing partner); Ashley Broomberg (partner).

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